Shadow's Claim: Immortals After Dark: The Dacians, Book 1: Immortals After Dark, Book 13

Shadow's Claim features Prince Trehan Daciano, a ruthless master assassin who will use every lethal skill he possesses to defend his imperiled kingdom - as well as his newfound princess. When an ancient secret threatens to destroy them all, can Dacia's notorious prince of shadows keep his Bride alive against all odds?

Okay, I'm totally addicted to the Immortals After Dark audio books, and this was no different. Petkoff's performances were so good, his accents wonderful, and the story truly came to life. If he doesn't continue to do the IAD series, I'll cry. He has more to do (and his past performances of the Woede brothers is just... rawr. So of course I'm looking forward to those).

As to KC's story--it was so exciting, fast-paced, and of course, hawt. :) The characters are extremely lovable and the action scenes are so well-described that I kept getting lost in the imagery. Fab-tastic! I was looking forward to this book all year, and I wasn't disappointed!

Obsidian: Lux, Book 1

When 17-year-old Katy Swartz moved to West Virginia right before her senior year, she'd pretty much resigned herself to thick accents, dodgy Internet access, and a whole lot of boring, but then she spotted her hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up...until he opened his mouth. Daemon Black is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. It's hate at first sight, but when a stranger attacks her and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens. The hot guy next door? Well, he's an alien.

Lord of Scoundrels

Sebastian Ballister, the notorious Marquess of Dain, is big, bad, and dangerous to know. No respectable woman would have anything to do with the "Bane and Blight of the Ballisters", and he wants nothing to do with respectable women. He's determined to continue doing what he does best - sin and sin again - and all's going swimmingly…until the day a shop door opens and she walks in.

Despite the beginning, which starts of the birth of a villain, I still thought this would be just like any other romance. It wasn't. I was constantly surprised, and sometimes frustrated (only in a good way) with the hero the whole time. This book was extremely well-researched and well-described as possible with just enough description to help, without it getting boring at all. It was a happy surprise! Now I think I'll see some other Loretta Chase books...

And yes, Kate Reading does a fabulous job. She look a second to get used to, but after about ten minutes I got used to her pace and was able to really enjoy her exceptional performance. Five stars, all around!

Dark Desires After Dusk: Immortals After Dark, Book 6

RITA Award-winning author Kresley Cole continues her bestselling Immortals After Dark series with this electrifying tale of a ruthless demon mercenary and the lovely young halfling who enchants him. A seductive beauty he can never have, yet can't resist.... Cadeon Woede will stop at nothing to atone for the one wrong that will haunt him forever. But once he secures the key to his redemption, the halfling Holly Ashwin, Cade finds that the woman he thought he could use for his own ends and then forget haunts him as much as his past.

Seriously, Robert Petkoff should have his own fan-club. He does an absolutely superb job performing this story and I found myself savoring this audiobook like a fine wine. The accents of Cadeon and Ryndstrom are spot on amazing and downright sexy. The way he performs Holly was cute, well-delivered, and not annoying whatsoever--which some male audiobook readers tend to make women. Even the way he performed Groot was hilarious--over the last several novels he's done in this series, he definitely has a honey-sweet way sorcerers speak that he's able to vary but keep on the accent.

Kresley Cole, I've said it before, is amazing. She's able to entwine the steamiest sex scenes and the most high-action climaxes of any author I've ever read. It's so absolutely visual--reading her books is as good as watching a movie with the way she's able to string along our imaginations. There's never a slow moment.

A thing she does really well is her characters--she does not use cookie-cutters. Cadeon is sort of an anti-hero that you're cheering for all the way and Holly is strong, loveable, and hanging onto her sanity by her new-grown claws.

Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night: Immortals After Dark, Book 4

Bowen MacRieve of the Lykae clan was nearly destroyed when he lost the one woman meant for him. The ruthless warrior grew even colder, never taking another to his bed - until a smoldering encounter with his enemy, Mariketa the Awaited, reawakens his darkest desires. When sinister forces unite against her, the Highlander finds himself using all his strength and skill to keep her alive. Temporarily stripped of her powers, Mari is forced to take refuge with her sworn adversary. Soon passion burns between them.

So, this is something you buy so that you have something to jog to... And then ten hours later you're walking around the house, jogged, your house cleaned, and the headphones are still in--this book will not release you.

I've already read the whole series, but it's addicting enough that I could read it several times. Kresley Cole's amazing.

That being said, Robert Petkoff does a REALLY great performance here. Great accents the whole way, and his voice is fantastic and his delivery is awesome EXCEPT for the voice of Carrow, who sounds in this version like a smoker half a step from emphysema... Hopefully he ditches that voice before he ever does "Demon from the Dark". :) Other than that, fantastic!

Master and Commander: Aubrey/Maturin Series, Book 1

This, the first in the series of Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship's surgeon and intelligence agent, against the thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson's navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging.

Simon Vance gives THE best performance that you can do this book. He does a great, great Jack Aubrey. Fantastic, lovable Stephen Maturin. He makes the language flow so naturally. The story itself I could see someone not liking, because it's heavy on details and actually quite low on plot. But if you love details about the era, if you love the language, and you love good character studies, then you will love this.

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